Synopsis

A rebellious drifter named Legs draws four high school girls into an intense friendship after confronting the teacher who harasses one of them. United by anger at the adults who control their lives, the girls form a secret sisterhood and take refuge in an abandoned house. Their defiance soon escalates into theft, violence, and choices that threaten to tear the group apart.

Factoids & Trivia

• The film is adapted from Joyce Carol Oates' novel Foxfire: Confessions of a Girl Gang, but it substantially changes the source material. The story was moved from 1950s upstate New York to the Pacific Northwest of the 1990s.

• Unlike the novel's extended time span, the film compresses the girls' experiences into a much shorter period, giving the story the feel of an intense adolescent upheaval rather than a long-form account of the gang's development.

• Foxfire was filmed in Portland, Oregon, using the region's suburban streets, wooded areas, and derelict locations to establish its atmosphere.

• The film was released theatrically in the United States on August 23, 1996, and had a limited commercial run.

• Angelina Jolie later described developing a close personal relationship with Jenny Shimizu during production. Their association became one of the most frequently discussed aspects of the film's legacy.

• A second adaptation of Oates' novel, Foxfire: Confessions of a Girl Gang, was released in 2012 and was regarded as a more faithful version of the book.